Tag Archives: Trump

Freedom of Suppress

Posted on April 20, 2020 by

Having watched a few episodes of the daily POTUS press briefing screechorama recently, I was reminded of a particular gem among the fables of Phaedrus. The piece is called Simius Tyrannus, King Ape. Its text, somewhat unusually surviving in prose … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Hydroxychloroquine

Posted on April 9, 2020 by

On March 21st, 2020, the President of the United States revealed that his tremendous capacities also stretched to the field of medicine: More recently, medical studies would appear to suggest that hydroxychloroquine is only marginally more effective than anthonyquine when … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hard shell, soft core

Posted on February 5, 2017 by

The late antique poet Claudian wrote a series of seven short epigrams on a fluid inclusion (or ‘enhydro’); these poems form part of a collection of Carmina minora (‘Shorter poems’), where they feature under the title De crystallo cui aqua … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Principiis obsta: resist beginnings!

Posted on January 30, 2017 by

Ovid, in his elegiac poem Remedia Amoris (‘Remedies for Love’), writes (Ov. rem. 89–94, transl. J. H. Mozley): Quale sit id, quod amas, celeri circumspice mente, et tua laesuro subtrahe colla iugo. Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur, cum mala per … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Facts vs. alternative facts (formerly known as ‘bull$#!^’): an ancient poem

Posted on January 26, 2017 by

Phaedrus, Rome’s fabulist of the first century A. D., wrote a remarkable piece called Poeta de credere et non credere, ‘The poet’s judgement with respect to believing and not believing’ (Phaedr. 3.10). This is the rather delightful 1761 translation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fake News and Post-Truth Politics

Posted on December 11, 2016 by

There is a widespread, distinct feeling that Western politics has entered a phase of what tends to be called ‘post-truth politics‘. The term ‘post-truth politics’, often accompanied by references to fake news and disinformation campaigns, looks like a euphemism for … Continue reading →

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No safe (and therefore a special) place

Posted on November 20, 2016 by

American Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence went to the theatre to enjoy a performance of ‘Hamilton’, when this happened: President-Elect Donald Trump apparently was not particularly happy with this and felt compelled to put his own trademark (a.k.a. low-fact, boastful) spin on … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

False Etymologies

Posted on November 10, 2016 by

With a little (and really only just a little) too much time on my hands, I recently thought: why not enter terms that are on my mind a lot as search strings into the Packhum Latin database and see what … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments